100 IN MEMuUIAM. — WILLIAM CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON, LL D., F.R.S. 
his researches in Fossil Botany, as is seen in the increased vahie of 
his subsequent papers on the subject. 
Edinburgh University conferred upon him the honorary degree 
of LL.D. in 1883, an example followed by the Royal Academy of 
Gottingen, who elected him an honorary member in 1885. 
The last decade of his life was filled with useful scientific labour. 
Among many papers written during this period the Palasonto- 
graphical Society's Monograph of the Morphology and Histology of 
Stigmaria ficoides, published in 1887, is perhaps the most important. 
In 1890 the Geological Society of London awarded him the 
Wollaston Gold Medal. 
On the resignation of his professorial chair at " Owens," 
Professor Williamson removed to London, where he at once made 
arrangements to conduct his researches with the assistance of the 
distinguished Botanist, Dr. Scott, F.R.S., and together they published, 
on the lines of modern Botany, several memoirs in the Philos. 
Transactions of the Royal Society. 
The time for the cessation of all work drew on apace, and fertile 
brain and facile hand began to lose their cunning, until at last quietly 
and peacefully he fell asleep at his own house at Clapham Common, 
on the 23rd June, 1895. 
His method of work is expressed in " The Reminiscences " as 
follows : — "I determined not to look at the writings of any other 
observer until I bad studied every specimen in my cabinet, and 
arrived at my own conclusions as to what they taught. Having thus 
formed my own independent judgment, I then turned to the works 
of other writers on the same subjects to learn in detail what their 
views were." 
Professor WiUiamson was very fortunate in his family life ; he 
was first married in 1842 to Miss Sophia Wood, the daughter of the 
Rev. Robert Wood, and afterwards in 1874 to Miss Annie Copley 
Heaton, the niece of Sir Henry Mitchell. He made the acquaintance 
of this lady when the guest of her uncle during the Bradford British 
Association Meeting in 1873. Those who have had the privilege of 
visiting the home of the Williamsons at Fallowfield, with its charm- 
ing botanical garden, know how happy that union was, and that the 
